


Costs

by BoxOnTheNile



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Bad Things Happen Bingo, Canonical Character Death, Death Threats, Kidnapping, Nonbinary Character, Past Lolix, as is my norm, hey look more of my headcanons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-12
Updated: 2018-09-12
Packaged: 2019-07-11 09:13:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15969281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BoxOnTheNile/pseuds/BoxOnTheNile
Summary: “There's notime, Megs, we need to go now.”And, well, Megan wasn't stupid. She knew that Isaac knew Mason was the better choice for a fight, and if Isaac hadfaked his deathto get away, her legal expertise wouldn't be helpful.“Isaac, what's going on?”He sighed. “I wish you weren't so fucking smart.”





	Costs

**Author's Note:**

  * For [HappyLeech](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HappyLeech/gifts).



> MY GIRLFRIEND LOVES ME TYSM FOR THIS PROMPT BABE

Megan Wu left the offices for Simmons and Minow much later than she should have. The sun had set on Ithaca over an hour ago, and she always felt like she was being watched this late. 

She blamed her husband's old job. Bounty hunters saw the worst of humanity, and she had seen him patching himself up in the kitchen more times than she wanted to. Her method of putting criminals away was much safer, if slightly less efficient. 

She set off down the street towards the building's parking complex. Halfway there, a hand wrapped around her wrist, yanking her into an alley. Another hand covered her mouth.

“Megan, Megan, Megan, it's me, calm down.”

Her heart lurched. “Isaac?” she whispered into his palm. As her eyes adjusted to the dark, she saw him smile. 

“Hi, Megs,” he said, and she surged forward to hug him. 

“Isaac,” she said tearfully. “We- we got a letter last year saying- saying you were dead and-"

“I know, I'm so sorry. It wasn't safe for me at the time, I had to. I should have come home earlier.”

“Where did you _go_?” she sobbed, clinging tightly to his shirt. This was her _family_ , and he was finally home.

“I'm sorry,” he mumbled, petting her hair.

She held him out at arms length, taking in the new scars. He'd taken out his piercings. “Where's Sam?”

It was too dark to really see the brief flash of emotion over Isaac's face. “I need your help, Megs.”

Cold fear bled down her spine. “Okay. Okay, _come home_ , we'll get Mason and figure something out.”

“There's no _time_ , Megs, we need to go now.”

And, well, Megan wasn't stupid. She knew that Isaac knew Mason was the better choice for a fight, and if Isaac had _faked his death_ to get away, her legal expertise wouldn't be helpful. 

“Isaac, what's going on?”

He sighed. “I wish you weren't so fucking smart.”

The knife pressed lightly against her stomach, the thin fabric of her blouse doing nothing to stop the chill of the metal from seeping into her skin. “Isaac?”

“Come with me. Now.” 

This- this wasn't right. “You're not Isaac.”

“In your first trimester, you begged Sam to make tamales for three days straight because they were the only thing you wanted. You threw up in kitchen sink as soon as you smelled it cooking.”

She felt cold. Sam and Isaac were the only ones that knew about that- Isaac had held her hair back while Sam threw everything in the compost bin in her garden. This was Isaac. Her best friend was pressing a knife against her, gripping her arm hard enough to bruise.

He yanked on her arm and she stumbled after him, years of muscle memory the only thing keeping her from tripping over her heels. He went straight to her car. “Keys.” She didn’t respond. “Now, Megs.”

“Don’t call me that,” she said, fishing the keys from her purse. Isaac snatched them from her hand and shoved her into the passenger seat. She smacked her head on the doorframe, and by the time her vision cleared, Isaac was on the highway out of Ithaca to the surrounding quarries. “Where are we going?”

“Locus needs taught a lesson,” he muttered furiously, and it took her second to remember. Locus had been Sam’s codename when bounty hunting. 

There had been nights, after especially rough marks, where Mason needed time to stop being _Siris_.

This really wasn’t Isaac. This was Felix, and he had a new set of rules that she doesn’t know. 

She pressed against the door, keeping as much space between them as possible. She wasn’t sure if she was ever making it home.

 

* * *

 

Locus’s tablet chimed from the coffee table. Simmons scooped it up and brought it to the kitchen, where Locus and Caboose were teaching Tucker to cook something that smelled spicy enough Simmons’s nose was already burning. “A’rynasea is trying to forward a message.”

Locus glanced over their shoulder, brow furrowed. “No one should be messaging me at all.”

Simmons shrugged. “I’m not going to tell the sentient alien ship that loves you that she’s _wrong_ , so here.” He held out the tablet. 

Locus accepted the tablet like one would accept a live explosive, squinting suspiciously. Recognition flickered across their face, followed by what Simmons would call terror on anybody else. They dropped the tablet and bolted out the back door to where A’rynasea was grounded. 

“Go, I’ll get the others,” Tucker said, turning off the stovetop and running into the house. Simmons let Caboose take his hand and they took off after Locus. 

They reached A’rynasea in time to hear a familiar voice sing, “I have something you don’t~”

“Felix,” Simmons breathed. Caboose squeezed his hand tighter. “Narcissistic Personality Disorder?” he managed to say, making his way into A’rynasea’s bridge. “Raging insanity?”

“Oho no, no, _Locus_ ,” Felix said, grinning from the console monitor. Last time Simmons heard that tone, Felix stuck a knife in Tucker. “Tell me you didn’t join their ragtag band of morons! Oh, that makes this revenge so much _sweeter._ ” 

“Felix,” Locus said, watching the screen. Their hands were trembling. 

“Sam?” The voice was soft, even enhanced by A’rynasea’s speakers, and obviously frightened. 

Locus’s expression went from guarded to desperate. “Megan?”

“ _Bingo_ ,” Felix hissed. Simmons heard Tucker inhale sharply behind him. “I have the only person you ever loved more than me! You want to betray me? Fine. But be prepared to pay the price.”

“Don’t touch me-” Felix dragged the woman into view, her dark hair disheveled. She tried to pull away, but she stopped when she saw Locus. “Sam?”

_Sam._ Whoever Megan was, she knew Locus from before they were _Locus_. 

“Sit tight, _Sam_ ,” Felix said, tone mocking. “We’ll get back to you.” The monitor went dark. 

There was less than a second of silence before Washington spoke- and it was _Washington_ , in his ‘Freelancer Mode.’ “Simmons, can you track that signal?

“On it,” Simmons said, already moving to sit at the control console. “Grif?”

“Yep.” Grif was already behind him. “Locus, look at me. Look at me. I don’t know who she is, but she’s important, right? We’ll find her.”

“She’s not- He can’t- I don’t understand.” Locus sounded _scared_. “He loves her too, she’s-”

“Your sister,” Caboose finished. “She is your sister, so we’ll save her.”

“She looks familiar, somehow,” Simmons muttered. He blinked at the console a few times. “He didn’t even try to cover his tracks, I can trace the transmission right back to…. Ithaca.”

“Ithaca?” Tucker asked, leaning over Simmons shoulder. “What’s that?”

“Mining colony that had a huge urbanization a few decades ago,” Simmons said. “I was born there.”

“So was I,” Locus said, very softly. Simmons twisted sharply to look at them; they were still staring helplessly at the console. “I know where he is. The abandoned quarry outside the city.”

“The one from that gang shootout?” Simmons asked. It was quarry’s one claim to fame.

“Who do you think was involved in that?”

“That was _you_?” Simmons shrieked. 

“Later,” Wash said. “How quickly can we get to Ithaca from here?”

“Fifteen hours, about?” Simmons said. A’rynasea’s lights pulsed sharply, red-orange-red. A different number appeared on the screen. “Twelve, ‘Nasea says.”

“Twenty minutes to dust off,” Carolina said. “Armor up.”

 

* * *

 

Megan wasn’t tied up or anything: _Felix_ seemed to know she wouldn’t run now. Why would she? Sam was coming.

_Sam._ Her best friend. They’d seemed so tired, so _scared_ on screen. They had more scars, just like Isaac(like Felix), and their hair was shot through silver, but they were alive and okay and it was _Sam_.

Isaac and Mason used to joke that Megan and Sam loved each other more than their actual partners. The two had met and just clicked, like soulmates, like puzzle pieces.

And then Sam and Isaac were gone. 

Felix hadn’t kept quiet about what the two of them had done, damn near gloating about the mercenary work. About Chorus.

Megan knew about Chorus- not only was the colony’s bid for independence legally unprecedented, but her boss’s _son_ was one of the heroes. 

And her brothers were the villains. It was impossible to reconcile the man she’d named her daughter’s godparent with someone capable of cold-blooded murder, impossible to picture the same people who used to nap on her fucking couch planning to destroy an entire colony. 

At some point, everything caught up with her and she dozed off, dreaming of a blank-eyed Sam that held her in their crosshairs…

She jerked awake when the door to the safehouse slammed open. “Sam,” she gasped, heart racing, and Isaac- _Felix_ scoffed.

“You always did love them best.”

She pulled her knees to her chest and glared, but before she could say anything, the scream of a ship engine grew louder and louder until the safehouse shook as it passed directly overhead.

Felix grinned. “There they are. Earlier than I expected, but I can handle that.”

Megan saw the handgun strapped to his armored thigh, the two knives on his she could see tucked under plating. “You're gonna hurt- Isaac, you _love_ them!”

“Shut up, Megan.”

“We cleared out your apartment, Isaac, I have the ring-”

“ _Shut up._ ” Felix leveled the gun at her head, and she pressed back against the wall, silent. She kept forgetting this wasn't her family anymore. 

“Felix,” someone called distantly, and Megan and Felix glanced out the window in unison. Sam. Sam was here. 

Megan screamed as Felix stalked over to drag her to her feet.

 

* * *

 

The frightened scream echoed through the quarry, and Locus jerked forward, stopped only by Wash and Simmons grabbing their arms. 

“Remember the plan,” Carolina said. “We’re here to back you up, Locus. Let him think he has the advantage.”

Locus nodded, jaw clenched. They were the only one out of armor, technically unarmed, though Tucker had their weapons. 

“Locs,” Grif said. “Your sister’s fine. If she can yell like that, she’s not too badly hurt.”

“One day you’re explaining how you know that,” Locus told him, “but you’re right.” He looked out at the abandoned warehouse in the quarry. “You have to be,” they said softly. With that, they started towards the warehouse, calling for Felix as they went.

Felix stepped out of the warehouse, arm around Megan’s throat. She was _so familiar_ , Simmons just couldn’t place why, and it wasn’t important now anyway. He crept closer, sticking to the shadows with Wash.

“Don’t engage him, Simmons,” Wash said over the radio. “He’s at least as good with knives as me. You’re not.”

“I know,” Simmons hissed back. “Pay attention to Locus.”

Ahead of them, Locus approached slowly, hands up. “Felix,” they said. “Let her go.”

“I don’t think so,” he said. His grip tightened, and Megan gasped. She scrabbled for a grip on the titanium plating of his armor, trying to pull his arm away. “See, what better way to hurt you than to go after the people you love? Maybe Lazano had the right idea.”

“Isaac,” Megan begged, struggling to catch her breath. “Isaac, please-” She choked as Felix pressed harder on her neck.

“Now, _Sam_ ,” and his voice mocking, “she’s got about three minutes before oxygen deprivation does irreparable damage, so you’ve got three minutes to make a choice. You come with me and we have a good long talk about the mistakes you’ve made, or she dies, and then I go after Siris.”

“Izzy!” Megan rasped, and started to struggle weakly. 

“Right, I forgot,” Felix said, delighted, “you had a baby! How old is she now, ten? Eleven?”

Simmons saw Wash twitch, could feel the cold fury radiating from the Freelancer.

Felix kept talking. “Oh, and Locus? Let me make it a little easier.” His helmet tilted a little.

Across the quarry, an explosion bloomed, shaking the ground and washing the quarry with heat, a direct juxtaposition to the ice that flooded Simmons veins.

Grif was over there.

That must have been enough for Wash, because he dove from the shadows, pulling his Magnum and pulling off two quick shots. Felix twisted, putting Megan between himself and Wash. Simmons HUD reported the oxygen levels in her bloodstream spiked- not enough, not high enough, but enough to buy her a little more time. Simmons darted in, combat knife in hand- Wash was going to kill him later- and tried to get behind Felix. He swore and drew his knife, stepping to meet Simmons, and let go of Megan in the process.

Locus ducked into the middle of the goddamn fight to hook one arm around Megan’s chest and pull her out of the way as one of her hands reached for Felix-

The gunshot echoed and Felix lurched. The quarry got very very quiet, and Megan said, “You were right, Isaac. I always did love Sam more than you, but I wouldn’t kill for them.”

She raised the handgun she’d pulled from Felix’s thigh holster. “I’d say never threaten my daughter again, but you won’t.” And she put two bullets in a gap in his armor, the slugs ripping through kevlar and into his lungs.

She watched Felix slide into a heap of armor and dropped the gun like it burned her.

“Megan?” Locus asked, and she turned to him.

“Samuel Ortez, where the _fuck_ have you been?”

**Author's Note:**

> Headcanons:  
> -Megan is a very talented attorney at Simmons and Minow, a firm owned by Alexander Simmons, who is the father of one Richard Simmons.  
> -Genderfluid Locus!!  
> -Locus and Simmons are from the same colony.  
> -Felix and Locus left Ithaca literally three days before the Wu's daughter was born.  
> -Baby Wu's name is Isabel Samantha, after her godparents. She's twelve as of this fic.  
> -Grif is fine. A little banged up, but fine.


End file.
